My Brother's Best Friend

Jasmin Smith is no one special to the eyes of the public. A normal pretty barmaid at a pub, a talent for singing and a flat in London. But not too long ago, Jasmin received some horrible news. Her twin brother, her other half, James has passed on, and she is now alone.Jasmin and James are originally from Holmes Chapel, and James's best friend was no other than Harry Styles. The two boys lost touch when Harry started getting whirled around in the famous life, but even after all the time that has passed, Harry is devastated at the news of James passing away. When he and Jasmin meet by chance, he makes it his mission to help her recover after the great loss she has suffered, and perhaps recover himself with her help. He feels it is his duty towards James to protect and shelter her, but never did he expect that those feelings should grow much stronger than that.

25. Chapter 22

A/N:

Heey guys! Sorry I've been out for so long, I was without internet while I was in Torquay for the past 2 weeks. Nonetheless, I have come back, and I am ready to give you guys the next chapter. So enjoy.

__________________

Jasmin's POV:

"Jasmin!" Someone called from the back of the pub. I looked over my shoulder at the open door and threw down the rag in my hand. While I walked out towards the back I wiped my hands on the apron I was wearing and breathed out heavily. The lunchcrowd had just come and gone again, and my feet were aching from standing up since my shift started at 11.

"Who said my name?" I asked as I stuck my head into Charlie's office. He was busy at the desk with some paperwork on the bars alcohol license. It had been giving him problems for weeks now. "I think it was Kristian. He's outside emptying the truck with Janey." "She's probably more harm than good." I mumbled and went out to see if I could help. I went out the back door of the pub to find that the weather had switched to a light drizzle, yet even in the piercing cold and dribbling rain, apparently Kristian found it hot enough to take of his shirt. I'm not gonna lie, if I was a guy I would do the same when I emptied the truck. It was hard work. And I wasn't exactly complaining about the view either. The boy is fit! "Need help?" I asked and crossed my arms over my chest. I could already feel the rain making my hair flat slightly flatter than usual. "Yeah, could you take over for me for a minute? I just need to take a piss real quick." Kristian said as he dumped a crate of Heineken on the asphalt. I wrinkled my nose. "Charming." "Sorry." He grinned and walked by me inside to the toilets. "Janey you take that crate into the bar." I told her and stepped up on the truck to get the next crate. "Okay." She said and bent over to pick up the crate. "No! NO! Janey what are you doing?" I scolded her. She looked up with a very confused look on her face and let go of the handles. "Huh?" Don't pick it up like that! You'll ruin your back. Look." I told her and bent my legs to pick up the crate with vodka in front of me. "Do it like that." "Okay." She said and flashed that childish gappy smile that was the reason she was always immediately forgiven whenever she dropped, broke, slammed or tipped something. Which she did roughly every half hour. After a while Janey came back to get the next crate. "Oh no Janey it's ok. No one's in the bar right now, you go take care of that and Kristian and I will do the truck 'kay?" I quickly offered her and dropped the new load of rum on the ground. "Are you sure?" She asked. "Yeah go." "Sure." A few seconds after she was gone, Kristian came out with a big smirk on his face. "That was so smooth. You could be an actress." He laughed. "What are you talking about?" I panted as I picked up the next box. "Getting her away from the truck?" "Oh that." I chuckled. We laughed together as we moved the crates off the truck. "How've you been lately?" He asked out of the blue. "You don't stick around much anymore." The question caught me off guard. Where was this coming from? "I've been good. Thanks. Busy moving and stuff. What do you mean? I stuck around after hours last week?" I asked him. "Did you? I wasn't working the night shift last week." "Kristian what are you trying to tell me?" I asked suspiciously and crossed my arms. I'd worked with Kristian so much I'd come to know all of his faces, and the one he was wearing now was the 'guilty-don't-know-how-to-ask-this-and-kind-of-accusing' face. "Just-" He trailed off and scratched the back of his neck. "It's just ever since you started hanging around with that Styles guy you haven't really been around a much as you used to." The words hit me in the gut like a cold fist. Hanging out with Harry had changed me? What? Had I gotten so caught up in that part of my life that I had let down my old friends? "Do you think I've changed? Because of Harry?" I asked shakily. Kristians expression changed immediately to guilt alone. "No! Well yes. But in a good way." He rambled. "You've gotten better. You're less depressed now, and that's good." "Then what is it?" I croaked, as my voice had suddenly changed from the cheerful to the shocked and sad kind. "You used to need us. Hell, you even needed Janey once. You used to depend on Charlie and me. And you still depend on Charlie, I mean he's basically your dad our uncle or something. But lately I just feel like I'm a spare." He said and looked down at the ground. "Hey." I said and walked over to put my hand on his shoulder. "If I didn't have you, who'd take my shifts when I'm sick or help me with emptying the truck?" I joked. He looked up at me with a playful grin. "Why you little-" He trapped me with his strong upper arm and started tickling me. Now we all know that I'm an extremely ticklish person. "Arh! Stop it!" I screamed and wriggled and squirmed in his grip. "Make me!" He laughed and touched my ribs, making me scream again and laugh like a maniac. I was being held with my back pressed against his chest. We were both soaked from the rain that continued to fall around us, and we were both laughing as if there was no tomorrow. "Am I interrupting something?" Harry's voice sounded from the door to the bar. I looked up at him and fought more violently to escape Kristian's hold on me. I succeeded and ran for Harry, hiding behind him. "Help me Hazza!" I laughed. "I rest my case. Two against one. Not going for those odds." Kristian said, looking more sober now. He went back to moving the crates again. "Not that I mind Haz, but why are you here?" I asked and walked around to face him. "Figured you'd want a ride in the rain. It's almost six o'clock. Charlie told me you were off now." He said. He looked kinda pissed actually. "But it actually looks like it's too late to save you from the rain now." "Thank you Harry." I smiled and tiptoed to kiss his cheek. But just before I reached him he looked away and walked back in the door. "I'll wait in the car!" He called back.

Later when we'd gotten home and I'd started cooking, Harry came into the kitchen as I was chopping carrots. He didn't even utter a word to me, he just walked straight to the fridge and pulled out a beer. He usually never drank on weekdays. He'd been acting like a girl on her period ever since he picked me up today at work, and I was starting to get a bit upset by it. He walked out of the kitchen again, and by the sound of it headed for his bedroom. Once I'd heard the door close, I put down the knife in my hand and used the kitchen counter for support. The term 'Cold Shoulder' suddenly made a lot of sense to me.

Harry's POV:

What the hell was this?

I knew very well why I was doing this to Jas. Because of that damn Kristian guy. I was jealous and I knew it. She probably did too. The real question was why I was jealous.

I didn't even have the right to! I didn't know what Jasmin and Kristian's relationship was. How it worked. And it's not like I was in a relationship with her.